Car Types!

Just a nice Kanji meaning for the word Tank!

Japanese: 戦車
Reading: sensha
Meaning: tank (the military vehicle)
Kanji: war + car


Here is another amusing word using the car Kanji.

Japanese: 肩車
Reading: kataguruma
Meaning: riding piggyback; riding on someone's shoulders
Kanji: shoulder + car

And here is one that at first glance looks amusing, but turns out to be somewhat disappointing.

Japanese: 車椅子
Reading: kurumaisu
Meaning: wheelchair
Kanji: car + chair

The concept of chair that is a car is amusing, but another meaning of the Kanji 車 is simply wheel which makes this a "wheel + chair", exactly like it is in English, and therefore, not amusing at all.

Bad Kanji!

Round Things in the Air

Just a nice Kanji meaning for the word Balloon!

Japanese: 風船
Reading: fuusen
Meaning: balloon, the kind you can inflate with helium and tie a string to.
Kanji: wind/air + ship


Well, if you don't keep an eye on the kid, eventually they all loose the grip and let the balloon fly away...
just like an air ship, carried by the wind :)

Nice kanji, me like!

The real big hot air balloon vehicle type balloons are this word:

Japanese: 気球
Reading: kikyuu
Meaning: balloon, blimp - the kind you can ride in...
Kanji: air + sphere

Dangerous Pool

Just a nice Kanji meaning for the word Battery.

Japanese: 電池
Reading: denchi
Meaning: battery
Kanji: electricity + pool

Quite the dangerous pool, eh?

When I mentioned this to a Japanese friend, he introduced me to a common family name in Japan, which is kind of similar.

Japanese: 菊池
Reading: kikuchi
Meaning: just a family name
Kanji: chrysanthemum (some flower type) + pool

That's a nice family name... but I like the electricity pool image better :P

Pillow Substitute

I don't think it's extra amusing or something but somehow, I just like this word. Or even the fact there is a word (noun & verb!) for it.

Japanese: 腕枕
Reading: udemakura
Meaning: using an arm as a pillow
Literally: arm pillow


The arm can be your own, or it can be someone else's.
As long as you sleep on an arm, it's udemakura!
I even saw somewhere there is kind of a half pillow with a fake arm extension to give you the ultimate arm pillow experience :P

Good night!